Last year, 36 global business leadership and accounting and finance students were inducted into the organization in its initial year.

The new group consists of 10 CSB students and 11 SJU students. Broken down by class, three seniors and 18 juniors are being inducted.

When including the 19 current seniors who were inducted into the organization last year with the 23 students invited this year, 9.7 percent of students were drawn from 433 junior and senior majors in global business leadership and accounting and finance.

Membership into Sigma Beta Delta is the highest national recognition a business student can receive at a college or university with a Sigma Beta Delta chapter.

A need was seen by CSB and SJU faculty to honor “our best and brightest business and accounting students,” said Steve Welch, associate professor of accounting and finance at CSB and SJU who is the faculty adviser to Sigma Beta Delta.

“Prior to the inception of the CSB/SJU chapter of Sigma Beta Delta, these global business leadership and accounting and finance students were not eligible for a school-wide honor society of any kind, since Phi Beta Kappa only inducts liberal arts majors,” Welch added. “Business majors do not qualify unless they are double-majors in a liberal arts major.”

To be eligible for membership, a student must rank in the top 20 percent of the junior or senior class and be invited by the faculty officers. CSB and SJU wanted to make the society more elite and required inductees to have a minimum 3.75 GPA.

Through the society, members can apply for fellowships, utilize networking opportunities and gain access to competitive scholarships.

The local chapter is starting a new practice of honoring graduates who have been successful in the business, management and administration areas. Camille Meyer ‘82, vice president of finance at Optum, a subsidiary of United Health Group, and Scott Becker ‘77, managing partner at Northstar Capital, will be this year’s honorary members.